Earls Performance Plumbing - Plumb Simple

There's no problem that a homeowner dreads more then when he has to repair the plumbing. In my experience, the problems that require a professional to come out to your house could have been avoided by simply having it installed correctly the first time. This couldn't be more true when dealing with your race car. If you don't plumb the car correctly the first time you could be looking at an expensive repair bill that could have been avoided.

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For our asphalt project car we need to plumb the oil, fuel, and water lines. To do so we are going to need 8-, 10-, 12-, and 16-gauge lines with all of the fittings to fit each line. We chose to go with Earl's performance plumbing to showcase a few new products that could make our lives easier when we plumb the car.

Fuel lines
For our fuel line we chose to go with Earl's Pro-lite 350 hose because it's extremely durable and will resist crimping. But it's also 50 percent lighter than its normal fuel line. There is always a lot of fuel line in a race car and its weight can add up, if we can save weight here and not compromise the safety of the driver, then we want to take advantage of it.

3/18Earl's Performance Plumbing is a leader in providing the best lines for your application.

The fittings we'll be using are Earl's new Ano-Tuff fittings. These fittings use a unique military spec hard-anodized coating that actually penetrates the aluminum for superior wear, corrosion resistance, and resistance to thread gauling. This can be extremely important if you ever have to hook up a fuel line at the track in a hurry.

In our ProCup rulebook, the maximum length of the fuel line is not specified. So you might notice in some of the pictures that our fuel line wraps around the underneath side of our car. In homage to Smokey Yunick, we did that on purpose. The extra full line will allow us to carry more fuel on board, in turn we can go farther on a full tank of gas. A typical race in our series will run 250 laps at a half-mile track. Now we can't make all 250 on one tank of fuel, however, by putting extra fuel line in the car we might be able to extend our fuel mileage to 235 laps. So our strategy would be to pit early in the race, say around lap 15, and get our fuel stop out of the way.

Oil Lines For the oil lines we used Earl's Perform-O-Flex Hose. The hose is a steel braided line, which can withstand 1,500 psi. The lines we used that run to and from the oil pump to the dry sump tank are 16-gauge line. We used steel braided line here because these lines run extremely close to the driver seat and compartment. If one of these lines were to rupture it might pose a problem for the driver. And unlike our fuel line which had the steel tubing to fit it through the driver compartment, the oil lines connect to the dry sump tank behind the driver seat, going through a gusset and into the dry sump container.

The oil lines can be crucial because if they're not run correctly then they can cause huge problems with your engine. For instance, try to avoid using sharp angle fittings as much as you can because they cut down on the flow of the oil, which can lead to a blown motor. We recommend that you always use "high flow" hose ends or as Earl's calls them Tube Hose Ends. These fittings serve to transistion the change in direction of the oil more efficiently and that helps to maintain oil pressure and flow, and reduce cavitation.

Water lines The water lines are going to be steel braided also just so that if we ever get in an accident involving the nose or the radiator we can try to avoid being knocked out of the race because one of the water lines ruptured.

Conclusion
Most people would view the plumbing of a race car as mundane and just something that needs to be done. But if you look at it as something that can make your car faster, or more long-lasting, then you have a lot to gain. Everything we did when it came to plumbing this car was for a reason. We put more fuel line in the car so we could go longer on the first tank of gas. We used a lighter fuel line to save weight. And we used sturdy oil and water lines so that in a front-end collision we won't have to worry about the lines getting crimped and rupturing, which would put us out of the race.

The entire point of plumbing your car is to get the fluids to the desired point as quickly and safely as possible. Just like your home, you can avoid a bunch of trouble by taking a little more time and do it correctly the first time. This will also help you avoid that expensive repair bill that could come your way if the plumbing isn't done correctly.